Saturday 20 April 2013

Mad Men Season 6 Episode 3

Sorry about this being a little bit later than I would have liked, 
mind you, you didn't know that 
but I have been having major internet issues!

Somethings have been there all along and it takes one split second to recognize it.

The opening credit sequence with Don free falling is one of those for me.

I never paid attention nor heed to it before and I am sure many of you got it ages ago but I only just got that Don is free falling.
I mentioned that I felt it was a bit of television jet-lag and it continued this episode with the flashbacks.  If you thought a 24 hour flight from Oz to Europe with a 12 hour difference was bad enough, try 30 years ago minus the 1960's.

Whoa, Don was so ugly as a teenager and so badly cast that I actually googled the casting director for Mad Men.
Excuse me Carrie Audino and Laura Schiff, I know you have been working hard casting all of Don's girlfriends and extras to play the background secretaries and copywriters but you should have done a better job with casting Don at that age. Gee whiz.
Via www.uproxx.com


Don had a few good lines that his shrink would have had plenty of fun with.

Post coital conversation where I am wondering why is Sylvia 
( his new mistress / nieghbour ) wearing a negligee - 
I thought they were getting up to mischief but I digress.
Love affair: Don and Sylvia got steamy in the bedroom unbeknownst to their spouses

She asks him if he doesn't mind sitting across the table from their respective spouses.

His response?

"They're both good company."

It is funny love and fancying someone isn't it?
I forgave Don every peccadillo for the last 5 seasons:
his womanizing, his moodiness, his being a less than mediocre father.

But during the meeting about inside politics at Heinz he comes up with the following sentence.

"But sometimes you gotta dance with the one that brung ya."

I had to rewind that 3 times before I understood it by the way.
I realized that my infatuation with Don was truly waning. 
After all he had done thus far, 
I got turned off because his use of the wrong verb tense.

Big loss: The ad team is forced to turn down a lucrative deal with Ketchup 'the Coke of condiments' to please an old client at Baked Beans

 I love a girl who gives a good retort without needing to raise one decibel and pursing lips.

Joan didn't have many lines but she beautifully delivered,

"There's a part you haven't seen in years."

Sharp tongued: Joan offered a few words of discouragement to the salesmen that poked fun at his weight

Normally I am a Mad Men fashion junkie but all the outfits in this episode were like the losing outfits on Project Runway.
The only person who dressed well was Sylvia - Don's mistress.

The good fight: Peggy Olson (Elisabeth Moss) has trouble fitting in with her male creative team at her new advertising agency

Peggy giving morale to her copywriters was just as awkward as a gawky father gatecrashing and dancing at a teenager's party.

Peggy handled the office incident quite well.  
Her temperance always did serve her well though.

Poor taste: A jar of Quest 'feminine hygiene powder' is left on Peggy's desk as a prank

Megan is breaking down.  She fires the maid and then the mistress is consoling her.  That's the problem with confession, it give the other such a invisible, unnameable power.

Megan was not looking good this episode.  
That green sweater with those collars and her hair and make up really reflected her inner turmoil.

Emotional roller coaster: In rare moment of vulnerability Don's wife Megan weeps over the laundry as she reveals a secret miscarriage

When Megan was wearing that tufted duvet coat with 
the bell sleeves and mao collar, 
I knew she had a death wish regarding her relationship with Don.  
I don't think she really cares that much anymore.
She also let Don go alone to that dinner...
I was really shocked at his forceful stance with Sylvia. Micky Rourke in 9 and a half weeks must have learnt his tricks from Don.

A show of modesty: Sylvia is clearly uncomfortable on the public date, but is irresistibly attracted to her husband's friend

That mating ritual of Broadway show tickets and a hook up in Manhattan was so not sexy. 
Could someone give me the number of the company that did all the PR about the swinging sixties?  

More bedroom talk: Perennial villain Pete Campbell (Vincent Kartheiser) bedded his own attractive neighbour, but with serious consequences

We thought - when I say we - I mean you and me thought we invented all kinds of crazy when having fights with our partners right?  Oh no, we are just reinventing the wheel folks.  
Crazy has been going since Eve got sick of Adam.

Both these women are at the opposite spectrum of crazy: one hysterically wild with emotion and one silently and morally ambivalent.

Coming to roost: After brushing off his paramour Pete gets a fright when she turns up at his marital home with a bloodied nose

But I never liked Pete's wife anyway and I am not a huge fan of his either so unless he confesses his undying and unrecognized love for Peggy then I am not that bothered either way.

I did pause at the last screen shot.
This is what I adore about Mad Men.  
The tableau like screen stills that are like a part Edward Hopper / Vermeer painting.

There is Don in front of his apartment front door with his wife who admitted she had a miscarriage inside in bed after he has had another dalliance with another woman and yet he doesn't go inside and sits on the lobby floor.

The flashback with that incident peeking through a door seeing a pregnant woman let herself be subjected to something that was obviously not a willing act and psychologically layered has scarred him.

Maybe I am overreaching but it seems like he doesn't want to ever know the truth and prefers always being outside physically and emotionally other than where he should be, i.e. his home.

Heavy stuff folks.



36 comments:

  1. This comment has been removed by the author.

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  2. Phew...that was "heavy" man. I am weary of Don's antics, his brooding, and selfishness. He brings everyone down. Self indulgent, self loathing & selfish ~ what a catch. Bet he isn't even good in the sack. Maybe he knows that, so that is a reason he hops around in different ones all the time. Yes Don is free falling, falling from grace, falling down the rabbit hole. He is also falling out of my favor. He has become a bit of a bore, no?
    Get over yourself whatever your real name is...I can't recall right now it is early here.
    How about a spin off featuring Joan! Now that she dumped that loser dr. Well dressed, usually, career gal, single mom, annoying but loyal mother, getting about town in true style...with Roger always cashing at her heels. That I could watch for another season.
    Oh and please...have Don's daughter run away...I can't bear her any longer.
    My two cents...
    My "anticipation" is waning for another episode..
    Kelly

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    1. Oh Kelly, this really has been a twist and dark dive into the deepest recesses of the mind. Yes Don's daughter is annoying but I do feel sorry for her having Betty as a mother who is so narcissistic. It surely affected her...

      Oh yes, give Joanie her own show for sure!! I am anxious for her to get in there but they keep teasing us with her one minute presence in the past few shows...

      But I must say I am in it through thick and think - we go back a long way you see...x

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  4. I still haven't got round to watching an episode yet, but from the photos you have posted, I see what you mean about me enjoying the fashion - Sylvia looks very chic with the neck tie! xx

    http://forcailini.blogspot.com

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    1. Honestly, two many primary colors with a odd A line shape dress is doing nothing for me! xx

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  5. I am traumatized and nauseous. The bad clothes memories, casting. Don as a teen wow. I can't even talk about it.

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    1. Robyn, it's okay...*pats you on back and pours you a whisky*. I feel your pain. Next week they just have to lighten the mood - and you thought Roger was annoying last week - bet you want to have him saying his silly lines now doncha? :)

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  6. It's all very dark. I was reading an article in the paper with the writer/ creator of Mad Men... he's thinking of killing off one of the main characters from smoking as his biggest regret is that he's made smoking look cool again. I was wondering if that's how it's going to end... with Don's death from smoking as they keep telling him he needs to quit smoking.
    I actually liked the casting for young Don. It proves what a difference a good haircut makes. Plus it must have given hope to that awkward teenager that he might grow up to look like Jon Hamm as an adult. It made me laugh as Mr AV went through what I term "the Ugly phase" when he was around 12/13 (freckles, bad hair, strange mishmash of adult and child facial features). Thankfully he improved out of sight.
    Overall though, it's not an uplifting watching experience at the moment - quite Gothic. xx

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    1. soo dark Heidi.

      Oh yes, someone has to get emphysema and I swear I want a fag everytime they light up.

      Oh Heidi, you still fancy Don!! hehe. Yes that stage is very awkward but that kid was beyond - gargoyle territory and they didn't do great plastic surgery so what happened? But I am just waiting for the writers to bring in some light to the shade...But yes you are right - this is all very american gothic philip roth. I want joanie and roger to lighten up the mood next week! x

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  7. Jesus! You know I don't watch it, but if I'd known that the younger Don was going to look like a teenage lesbian, I MIGHT have! Hilarious. Peggy has always reminded me of a pug wearing a wig. All the clothing here looks like it was made from nylon.

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    1. You got it spot on!!! so funny - so that's why I dont fancy him anymore - because I realized he's doing reverse drag...

      I think that is why the fall of the fabric on everyone's dresses is all wrong! Plus those collars - that should never come back in fashion.

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    2. I can just see tha clown designer Stella McCartney chewing on her own hand, dizzy with excitement because NOW she knows where the ideas from her next collection are coming from. Let's all look forward to lots of nylon pieces in retinal-bruising colours costing £1000 a pop coming our way soon.

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    3. I do feel sorry for Sir Paul's wife - she is going to be forced to wear it because if she doesn't she is going to end up with the same fate as Heather Mills...Meow.

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  8. Ok... so I have not yet watched a single episode of Mad Men - I want to know if I should even start!!!.... I am picking up that Don might be similar character to the John Ham character in Bridesmaids... representing the totally worst qualities a bloke could have. I think John Ham could be seriously typecast and just coulnt imagine him as anything else other than a rogue! xxx

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    1. Jenny - you are forgiven for not catching up as you have been so busy! But you have been doing your own analyzing and that is actually so true - he is morphing into that character in Bridesmaids a la 60's!!! xx

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  9. You are HILLARIOUS!!!.... I am answering the Steve question.. not sure if you will get back to my blog to read the answer!!.... He is a funny one... somehow knows my name... always hangs around at site meetings.. we have had only had two... At the next one I am going to give him my blog address so that he can see that his pic has flown around the planet!!!.... Wish you hadnt deleted that comment by mistake! xxx

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    1. Oh yes please do answer the Steve question.

      I would rather talk about him here bc he will see your blog.

      He is very YMCA. So cute and hunky. And that pose and him being a driller was a commenter's dream...!!

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  10. we don't have a television chez teamgloria towers and we have to say we don't need one - it is So Much More Interesting to read your popular culture examination afterwards - glorious, in fact, just like armchair (not that we have one of those either) travel(l)ing while delighting over your photographs.

    love it.

    *wavingfromlosangeles*

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    1. Well with all those stories developing in your head there is hardly any need is there?

      Thanks so much team G! x

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  11. I must watch this show! But who has time?? Thanks for recap!
    xo
    Sharon

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    1. Sharon - good luck on your fundraiser! Say hi to Joan Rivers for me - I adore her xx

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  12. I've never seen Mad Men... One day I'll make the effort as I'm sure I'd love it. Watching Scandinavian crime and Borgen takes up all my TV time. I'm very, very bad at sitting still for long, but somehow anything in Danish or Swedish has mew riveted. US shows not so much (apart from The Wire - I loved that).
    I like that red-headed lady's outfit... Very chic scarf!

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    1. Ruth - honestly, please watch it - ok this season is a little heavy but the first 5 seasons is beautiful with characters that are nicely layered which is why I am putting up with the misery thus far in season 6.

      But I am a nordic noir nut!! I speak to my friends in quasi Danish - mind you I just say to them, someone's wife is dead and you need a better alibi. Not very useful, unless you watch the Killing, Borgen, the Bridge, Wallander. Can you tell I am a bit scandi obssessed? tag, hihi!

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  13. I must discover Mad Men, never watched it!!
    kisses

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    1. Oh Gloria - I am surprised it is not a bigger hit in France - but I really do suggest to everyone they watch it - it is a real cultural reference point you see xx

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  14. Well... it'd be so unfair if he was good looking as a teenager as well as a grownup man!

    -liv
    http://chocolivlovelaugh.blogspot.kr

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    1. Hi Liv, I guess you are right - noone should be that gorgeous all their lives! hehe

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  15. I can't really dig into this since I'm behind in Mad Men! Haha but love it! xo Caroline
    Ps, join the Clinique give away on my blog!

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    1. That was my first give away I entered - quite exciting - fingers crossed! xx

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  16. I was absolutely hooked on the first few series, thought everything about it was brilliant. I had lived through the era, worked in advertising, and was fascinated to watch the female characters evolve on screen. And Don Draper, troubled, yes, but gorgeous or what! However I lost track of it all when it moved channels so I love your catch-up!

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    1. Really? Oh that sounds like you must watch it with a whole different perspective... It would be amazing if you would give us an insight and write about an experience you had and the mad men vs the reality of it. That would be sooo interesting!

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  17. I'm so annoyed haven't seen the season premier yet! Sick men in the house and just not had the chance. Can't wait to see it now! x

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    1. It's a bit heavy but if you have watched it thus far then just get a drink first! x

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  18. Hi! I've only just started watching Mad Men this week: I Sky+'d the first season Monday seeing as Hubby is travelling, and honesly I'm totally hooked!! xoxo

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    1. Hello LittleS,

      It is a bit dark I warn you but it is addictive with the both high and the lows! Thanks for coming by xx

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Thank you for dropping by!